Breaking Down Crime Rates
There’s always a danger in making any general statement or conclusion, but the latest crime statistics show some extremely interesting trends as to what areas of the country are the safest, and which aren’t. Despite the reputation of the south as the God-fearing, church-going folk, crime rates below the Mason-Dixon line are relatively high compared to other regions. According to CQ Press, in 2009, only two southern states ranked in the top half of a ranking of crime rates among states: West Virginia and Virginia, and most southerners don’t even claim those states as part of the south. Additionally, four of the bottom ten states were from the south. Many experts draw a correlation between the median income of a state and its crime rates, suggesting that wealthier states often have lower crime rates. This is reflected to some degree in the 2009 data with South Carolina and Louisiana, two of the poorest states in the Union, ranking 48th and 49th, respectively. A ranking of states by median household income would place most southern states below the national average, thus possibly contributing to their higher crime rates.In general New England sees the lowest crime rates in the nation. Interestingly, New England states also are typically the wealthiest states in the US, again confirming the correlation of crime and wealth.One important factor to note is that when states are ranked by crime rate it includes the total for the whole state and doesn’t reflect that one or two cities may have much higher crime rates than the state average, which can lead to an overall ranking that isn’t reflective of the state as a whole. Whenever you plan on moving to a new city, you should take into account not only the state’s annual crime rates but also the city or town itself.